Amitai Winehouse

The point at which the modern football club can be said to have been created coincided with a sudden change in strip.

Stephen McPhail in the yellow and blue halved shirt.

Don Revie decided that the club needed to move away from its past and revolutionise its thought. So integral to Leeds becoming one of the country’s top sides, Revie chose to change Leeds’ traditional yellow and blue halved shirt to an all-white kit.

This was intended to replicate the garb of Spanish giants Real Madrid.

As a result, more than fans of most sides, Leeds fans tend to get very passionate whenever a new kit is revealed.

Fans of the Whites will not be surprised to see that this season’s strips have been voted as the best in the Football League.

There was enough excitement surrounding the home shirt, sponsorless and without the detail that has ruined past attempts.

However, that paled in comparison to the sudden revelation of a yellow away kit.

Leeds have avoided that colour for the better part of a decade, but it has historical significance. It is definitely the club’s second colour, despite years of attempts to usurp it by blue strips.

It also spoke for a long period of subpar away shirts. The black and green monstrosity of 2011/12 was a real low point, but recent designs have not been much better. While last season’s navy affair was decent, it was underused compared to the previous campaign’s supposedly gold but definitely beige and definitely not very nice shirt.

Even home shirts in recent seasons have been staggering disappointments - the striped shirt of 2013/14 went completely against what a Leeds home kit should be, simply all-white.

Here’s my own top five:

1: Yellow and blue halves away kit, 1998/99

This was the first shirt I purchased at Elland Road. I’d owned kits before but never actually been to buy them. I still remember walking with my dad to the old club shop. It’s such a staggeringly beautiful kit. It also evokes great memories of David O’Leary’s ‘babies’. Whenever I see that kit, I am reminded of Stephen McPhail’s pass against Derby County to set up Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink at Pride Park. Stunning.

2: White home kit, 2015/16

It would be very hard to argue which of the two kits from this season is superior, especially as they are almost exactly the same, barring a change in primary colour. The yellow kit is something special, but it might be a long time before Leeds have another all-white strip without a sponsor, given the nature of the modern game. That makes it something worth celebrating.

3: FA Cup final, 1972

This was not a replica, and the same exact kit may never have been worn again, given that football kits used to just be normal clothes. However, on what was the first time Leeds ever won the most prestigious cup competition in the world, the Whites looked resplendent on the grandest stage. The script has never been topped as a badge either. Think of Leeds United and it is tough not to think of Allan Clarke heading the ball into the Arsenal net before standing up and raising his arms.

4: White home kit, 2000-2002

On a personal level, the team that defined my childhood will always be defined by the Strongbow home kit from between 2000 and 2002. Think of recent great moments in Leeds history and you’ll find many of them took place in that shirt, from Mark Viduka’s four goals against Liverpool to the run to the Champions League semi-final.

5: White home kit, 2010/11

This is a shirt that means far more because of the season in which it was worn. By Leeds standards, the Macron kit for the club’s first season back in the Championship was not great, but it did come to represent the last time the club actually looked like they would reach the Premier League. It was a young, exciting side, wearing a strip that was as close to an all-white kit as Macron every really came.

Why not comment below with your own favourite kit?

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